Heaven's Greatest Professor

Chapter 44  It Went Poofed

"You're him?" the elf girl asked expectantly.

"Everyone thinks they are Him?" Warden said. "I am no exception. You have to be specific about the Him you're looking for."

June groaned, facing towards Onia. "Is he always this insufferable to talk to?"

"No," Onia said. "He's very affable throughout and went to great lengths to save our village. Without his help, we wouldn't have survived."

The elf looked like she had eaten something sour. Perhaps he should stop amusing himself at her expense. Warden couldn't believe himself. This was really a 100% authentic elf. He wasn't sure if he had seen elves before, but it felt like the first time he was meeting one. And all his expectations were met. June was probably the tallest woman he met so far, standing close to six feet with a lithe athletic form. He could imagine her beauty being pretty high in elven standard.

Her hair was silver, not a drab monotonic grey like his, but brim and vibrant. Though they were cut only to reach her shoulders, they matched her young face remarkably with the pointy ears. A tight light blue coat hugged her form firmly, with a grey cloak on top of it. She didn't look old enough to be a professor, but she was an elf, after all. Even with that look, she could be over a hundred years old.

Her behavior didn't suggest that, though, Warden thought. At least if she was that old and wise, it wouldn't be so easy to poke fun at her.

"I assume you met my students already," the elf said. "Kiara and Liam, they sent a message to me a couple of days ago, saying someone called Warden saved their lives."

Everyone's expression brightened at the mention, which included Warden as well. "Those two are your students? You should've said so earlier. They are good lad and lass, far better than the lots that stinky professor brought."

"Yes, Elder sister Kiara helped me a lot in spell casting," Onia added.

"Both of them saved the village," Xiv said. "We owe them a great debt for everything they did."

Warden was about to comment, but his attention moved skywards, finding something flying towards them at a tremendous pace. He jumped to his feet.

"Don't be stupid," June said, "that's my spirit beast."

The bird curled down, slowing down its pace a lot, and landed right next to the elf. Even still, the bonfire flickered into only red burning woods with the wind its massive wings created.

It was a white majestic crane with its wings expanded over a dozen feet. While its whole form looked thinner in comparison, the crane could easily rival the biggest cursed wolf he had killed so far. Moreover, Warden was reading a far stronger aura from the bird.

"Calm down, everyone," June said softly, rubbing the bird. "Sylvie won't hurt anyone."

The bird clucked in agreement, and then its beak moved towards the kebab in his hand. "She's hungry," Warden said, easily giving up his food for the bird. Sylvie nuzzled her head around the meat for a second before taking the roasted kebab into its beak. To make sure, she didn't gulp down all of it, Warden pulled the stick and let all the meat fall into her long beak. Sylvie clucked in a low squeal. She likes it, definitely more than her owner. "Do you want more?" Warden asked. Of course, she wants more. The crane would have space left in her tummy even after she ate all the kebabs left. Even without getting an answer, he brought a few more of the roasted meat and let the bird eat them.

He noticed the elf girl looking at him with a conflicted scowl. Was the master-student duo the same, feared that he would take away their bonded beast? "Thank you for feeding her," June said at last, "I'll make sure to pay—" "No need," Warden waved her off. "We have more meat, though mostly raw. Does she eat raw? Roasting them will take some time." "Sylvie can eat raw, though she likes roasted better," June answered. "Oh, does she eat beat core like Cupcake?" June frowned, probably hearing the revelation for the first time. "No. The little spirit rabbit can digest beast cores?" "It can more than just digest," Warden said, guesting to Tifan to bring in more meat. "Thank you for the food," June said, as the bird squealed. "Sylvie, did you find any signs of a dungeon nearby?" The bird clunked. "No?" June frowned. "Perhaps it is deeper into the wilderness." "It was actually," Warden cut in. "But you don't need to worry about it anymore." "What do you mean, I don't have to worry about it?" June asked. "It is my job to be worried about dungeons." "Well, that's the issue," Warden hesitated, "there's no more dungeon any more." "Explain clearly," the elf said, and then realisation dawned on her as her expression grew dark. "No, the overflow didn't happen," Warden calmed her down. "At least not entirely. I took care of all the wolves it spawned, as for the dungeon, I cleared it too." "You alone?" June frowned, incredulous. "Yep, do you have a problem with that?" "I suppose if it is a grade 9 or Grade 8, trained warriors could solo clear it." "It was a Grade 8." Warden understood the lower the number, the higher the rank of the dungeon was. Grade eight was merely the 2nd weakest rank. "And what did you mean by there is no dungeon any more?" "Because there isn't," Warden said. He mimicked an explosion with his palms. "It went poofed after I cleared the dungeon." "What!" June frowned. "Are you sure that happened? There's a very low chance you'd still be standing right now if a dungeon exploded with you inside it." "I don't know exactly what happened," Warden was technically not lying. "It went all dark and I fell unconscious. The next time I woke up it was midday and outside on the world." June's frown only deepened. While she was busy with her thoughts, he fed her bird. There was a certain relief in feeding others, especially when the food was made by you. Warden had learned that recently. Nôv(el)B\\jnn